Dramatic Video Footage Of Journalist Michael Hastings' Car Exploding

Surveillance video footage captured by a camera at Pizzeria Mozza along Highland Ave. in West Hollywood, CA captures the final moments as investigative journalist Michael Hastings' Mercedes Benz passed by at a high rate of speed before bursting into flames following a spectacular explosion. The restaurant owner turned over the video footage to LA Police, which very quickly ruled out the possibility of foul play being involved despite the unusual nature of the crash that killed the controversial investigative journalist, who had warned friends only hours earlier in an e-mail that the FBI was investigating his work and that he would be going off radar for awhile to work on his latest investigative story about the CIA. An earlier investigate report Hastings did for "Rolling Stone" ended the military career of Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top commander in Afghanistan, after he made unflattering comments about high-level officials of the Obama administration during his interview with Hastings.

The LA Coroner's office has yet to release the results of toxicology tests taken during Hastings' autopsy. Family members complained that the coroner's office cremated his remains before turning them over to the family. A resident in the neighborhood where the crash occurred observed emergency officials removing Hastings' body from the car hours after the crash occurred. Surprisingly, she observed that most of the body did not appear to be badly burned from the fiery crash. She could identify his skin color and clothing worn by him as his body was placed on a gurney. She said emergency officials appeared to turn his body in order to remove identification from his back pocket. The coroner's office had described his body as being so badly burned that officials were unable to identify it until dental records could be obtained to determine his identity.

Former U.S. counter intelligence official Richard Clarke has said that Hastings' crash had the hallmarks of a car being remotely hijacked using the car's computer systems. The mainstream media, which appears to care less about the death of a talented, young investigative journalist, has thrown cold water on such speculation as a wild conspiracy theory despite the circumstances leading up to Hastings' final hours alive and the unlikelihood of a modern Mercedes automobile exploding in such a spectacular fashion due to a front-end collision, even at a high speed. Neighbors described hearing what sounded like a bomb exploding, shaking their homes and awakening them from their sleep.